Yass Valley Council has approved a new service centre opposite the existing highway service centre west of Yass. The current centre includes McDonald’s and KFC, on while it is expected the new centre will include  Hungry Jack’s and C Coffee on the site which is approximately half the size of the current site.

OTR is owned and operated by South Australians. It is the state’s largest local employer and leading convenience retailer with over 145 Petrol and Convenience stores across metropolitan and rural South Australia. The successful applicant is PC Construction Pty Ltd care of KDC Pty Ltd, a planning and consultancy firm.

The centre will join the current centre and a centre yet to be constructed at Bowning, which was approved in 2019.

According to the YVC business paper, the construction will cost $4,500,000.

The proposal was originally lodged on 16 December 2016 and re-lodged 21 May 2020. The site is 3.35 hectares and is zoned IN1 General Industrial and SP2 Infrastructure. Mayor Abbey declared a significant pecuniary interest in the matter before council advising councillors she and her husband Brendan Abbey own the land which is in the process of being sold to the proponent. Mayor Rowena Abbey left the meeting at the appropriate time. The approval decision was unanimous.

The site is a proposed lot in an approved 24 lot industrial subdivision, located approximately 6km north-west of the Yass Township and opposite the existing North Yass service centre. The South Eastern Livestock Exchange and a fertilizer production business are located to the east of the site. The land immediately adjoining the subdivision site is currently used for agricultural purposes.

The submitted proposal for the highway service centre includes the construction of:  A service station with a convenience store, fuel canopy, separate diesel canopy and underground fuel tanks. A takeaway food and drink premises. A truckers lounge and amenities. On-site parking. A new access point comprising of a left-out only onto Yass Valley Way. Four access points on to the new internal roads (to be constructed as part of the subdivision)

A total of 95 car parking spaces are provided comprising of:  64 general car parking spaces. 10 staff carpark spaces. 6 trailer spaces. 2 spaces for loading/unloading/service vehicles. 2 coach parking spaces. 10 spaces for B Doubles and 3 spaces for A Doubles.

A levy under the Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Act 1986, equivalent to 0.35% of the value of the works, shall be paid to Council, where the value of such works is greater than $25,000.00

A Certificate of Compliance shall be obtained for the augmentation of Council’s water supply system under section 305 Water Management Act 2000. The fee for the Certificate of Compliance is $215,933.86.

A Certificate of Compliance shall be obtained for the augmentation of Council’s sewer system under section 305 Water Management Act 2000. The fee for the Certificate of Compliance is $147,763.05.

The facility will open on the back of the Coolac Service Centre located approximately 80 kilometres to the south-west on the Hume Highway which opened in August.